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Post by nicholas on Mar 28, 2021 14:02:15 GMT -7
I'm doing some maintenance and small tune ups on my guitars. I've been really loving my ES-339 since I got it. I snagged it at as what was called "unplayed" NOS 2016 model back in 2018. It's been great ever since then, but I noticed the tuners have been feeling funky lately. Just two were acting up, but I replaced them all with some upgraded Grover's. They have a finer gear ratio than the originals and feel nice. Drop in replacements. I polished the nut slots and cleaned / polished the frets with gorgomyte. Last time I did some maintenance on it, the tailpiece seemed odd. Has anyone ever seen one like this? It's a locker of some type? Came on the guitar when I got it. I decide to swap that out with a locking Faber which seems like a way better design. I like how the machined shims sit right on the stud flange. Very rigid when installed. Looks like this So after a good clean up, restring and nut lube it plays and feels like new again. The new tuners, probably combined with cleaning and polishing up the nut slots feel great now. They stayed in tune fine before, just felt weird, like a vague feeling especially when slackening off a little. All good now and ready to rock again! Love this little guy! Free guitar tech tip of the day. When working on a guitar with F holes cover them with painters tape. Just in case some meat head accidentally drops a tiny tuner screw and it finds it's way in there. No telling how long you'll be shaking it for to get it out lol .
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Post by helmi on Mar 28, 2021 14:30:00 GMT -7
That’s a fine looking guitar. love the small block fret markers.
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Post by Seńor Verde on Mar 28, 2021 19:03:26 GMT -7
The tailpiece is made by Advanced Plating (advanced Music Products). Not sure about the studs though. Philadelphia Luthiers sells their tailpiece and those studs.
While I do like the Faber tailpiece, I don't loke their studs. I ended up buying Gibson Historic tailpiece and studs for my '335s and like them better than others I've tried.
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Post by nicholas on Mar 29, 2021 3:51:06 GMT -7
The tailpiece is made by Advanced Plating (advanced Music Products). Not sure about the studs though. Philadelphia Luthiers sells their tailpiece and those studs. While I do like the Faber tailpiece, I don't loke their studs. I ended up buying Gibson Historic tailpiece and studs for my '335s and like them better than others I've tried. I don't know how you knew that, but that's impressive! Yes, I looked closely at the tailpiece and it actually says Advanced Plating on the bottom which I never noticed. I googled it and it seems those are standard gibson affair. Not sure about those odd studs. Probably just some odd duck they used for a year or something. Curious what you didn't like about the Faber studs. I thought they went on pretty slick. The old studs "threaded button" for lack of better words had a tendency to loosen up. Once I found it on the floor and was thinking "what the heck is that, looks familiar, better keep it". Then the next day I noticed it was missing from the guitar lol.
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Post by Seńor Verde on Mar 29, 2021 7:37:03 GMT -7
The tailpiece is made by Advanced Plating (advanced Music Products). Not sure about the studs though. Philadelphia Luthiers sells their tailpiece and those studs. While I do like the Faber tailpiece, I don't loke their studs. I ended up buying Gibson Historic tailpiece and studs for my '335s and like them better than others I've tried. I don't know how you knew that, but that's impressive! Yes, I looked closely at the tailpiece and it actually says Advanced Plating on the bottom which I never noticed. I googled it and it seems those are standard gibson affair. Not sure about those odd studs. Probably just some odd duck they used for a year or something. Curious what you didn't like about the Faber studs. I thought they went on pretty slick. The old studs "threaded button" for lack of better words had a tendency to loosen up. Once I found it on the floor and was thinking "what the heck is that, looks familiar, better keep it". Then the next day I noticed it was missing from the guitar lol. I've tried several types of locking studs on many different guitars. To me it changes the sound, sustain and feel in ways I don't like. Seems some people like those changes, some don't and a few can't tell the difference. I wanted to like locking studs, even if it was just so the tailpiece was locked in place if I ever had to remove all the strings. But, they're just not for me. I do like the locking Faber ABR-1 bridge on my ES-335 guitars. Also liked it on one of my R8, but that one is back to stock now.
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Post by LT on Mar 29, 2021 8:01:06 GMT -7
Nice looking axe....and a good tip about the F holes!
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Post by nicholas on Mar 29, 2021 13:08:27 GMT -7
I don't know how you knew that, but that's impressive! Yes, I looked closely at the tailpiece and it actually says Advanced Plating on the bottom which I never noticed. I googled it and it seems those are standard gibson affair. Not sure about those odd studs. Probably just some odd duck they used for a year or something. Curious what you didn't like about the Faber studs. I thought they went on pretty slick. The old studs "threaded button" for lack of better words had a tendency to loosen up. Once I found it on the floor and was thinking "what the heck is that, looks familiar, better keep it". Then the next day I noticed it was missing from the guitar lol. I've tried several types of locking studs on many different guitars. To me it changes the sound, sustain and feel in ways I don't like. Seems some people like those changes, some don't and a few can't tell the difference. I wanted to like locking studs, even if it was just so the tailpiece was locked in place if I ever had to remove all the strings. But, they're just not for me. I do like the locking Faber ABR-1 bridge on my ES-335 guitars. Also liked it on one of my R8, but that one is back to stock now. Gotcha. I like that they keep it in place for strings changes, like you said. As far as feel or tone changes, I can't say. With the new set of strings, a truss rod and action adjustment theres too many variables. It sounds and feels way better to me. I'm thinking that's mostly due to the setup and strings. But who knows. Ever since I got my Anderson I've gotten used to the 25.5 scale length again. So the gibsons feel loose comparatively. Funny how that works? I always used to run the Hybrid Slinkys which are the wound strings from a pack of 10's and plain strings from a pack of 9's. Now I've been putting Regular Slinkys (10's) on everything as I change them out. So theres a decent amount of feel difference there.
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Post by nicholas on Mar 29, 2021 13:16:40 GMT -7
Nice looking axe....and a good tip about the F holes! Yup lol! And if you forget to tape them. And you are a meathead and drop a screw in there proceed to tip #2. Tape them up now. Proceed to shake until rattle goes away. This could take a while. When the rattle stops the screw is stuck to the tape. Remove tape and screw, re-read tip #1 for next time I need to write this 100 times on the blackboard ha ha.
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Post by runninwiththerevil (Matthew) on Mar 29, 2021 17:35:44 GMT -7
Bridge set up: If you're thinking of changing up parts of the bridge there is Tonepros up on CL right now. Did you pick that up from Chicago Music Exchange? I think they bought out an overstock of 339 and ended up selling them for a song. I had a red one, that I liked, but didn't love. I didn't hand onto it long enough though. I broke even but see them going for a lot more this past year.
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Post by Don A on Mar 29, 2021 18:48:16 GMT -7
The tailpiece is made by Advanced Plating (advanced Music Products). Not sure about the studs though. Philadelphia Luthiers sells their tailpiece and those studs. While I do like the Faber tailpiece, I don't loke their studs. I ended up buying Gibson Historic tailpiece and studs for my '335s and like them better than others I've tried. Advanced Music Products supplied those studs to Gibson along with the tailpiece. They were an OEM supplier for Gibson. I don't know if they still are.
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Post by zpilot on Apr 1, 2021 10:59:38 GMT -7
That is a fabulous looking guitar. Absolutely beautiful. I'm a big fan of the Tone Pros hardware. Not much experience with Faber stuff. However the stock hardware on my two recent purchases from Gibson seem to be working fine so I'm not messing with it. My SG is a 2016 model and it has standard Gibson studs. I have never seen the type on your guitar before. Must have been a very limited run.
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Post by nicholas on Apr 2, 2021 16:36:46 GMT -7
That is a fabulous looking guitar. Absolutely beautiful. I'm a big fan of the Tone Pros hardware. Not much experience with Faber stuff. However the stock hardware on my two recent purchases from Gibson seem to be working fine so I'm not messing with it. My SG is a 2016 model and it has standard Gibson studs. I have never seen the type on your guitar before. Must have been a very limited run. Thanks. It's plays as good as it looks. The fretwork is really top notch. Sets up nice and low action, no buzzing. Really nice all around. I really like the 339's. They give me enough of that semi hollow sound, but they are more feedback resistant. Maybe because the body is smaller and naturally stiffer? In any event, due to the feedback resistance it lends itself to styles of music you normally wouldn't associate a semi hollow body guitar with. It can do just about anything really. Yeah those original studs are odd. I was going to put some thread locker on them to address the loosening up issue, but just went with something new instead. The Faber seems really well thought out.
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